MOTOGP >>> nEWs
MOTO3 NAME gAME AS
FACTORIES RACE OFF
The return to road-racing of the long-forgotten name of
Husqvarna has tactical overtones, as the manufacturers
square up to one another in the smallest class, with big
factory budgets making a mockery of the supposedly
controlled-cost class.
The Swedish manufacturer was prominent in road-racing
in the mid-1930s, but after the war turned its attentions
to motocross, where the Huskys became dominant in the
1960s and 1970s.
The road-racing return has nothing to do with legacy,
however.
The brand has changed hands several times, owned by
Cagiva and MV Agusta, then by BMW, and since the start of
this year the Austrian KTM factory.
The 2014 Moto3 Husqvarnas are rebadged KTMs, to be
ridden by Danny Kent in the factory-backed Red Bull Ajo
team, and in the associated Avant Tecno team by Niklas Ajo.
Kent’s Red Bull team-mate Jack Miller’s bike will however be
badged KTM.
One implication is a way of circumventing rules that
require each manufacturer to be prepared to supply up to
15 riders with identical machinery. Husqvarna could be used
in an experimental role, with different engine parts and no
obligation to supply them to KTM teams.
Honda, returning with a full-scale factory effort of its own,
has threatened to rebrand “satellite” bikes as FTR-Hondas,
to concentrate its efforts on its new super-team of Alex Rins
and Alex Marquez.
The other significant note from last week’s entry list is
the shift in machine loyalty. KTM is the most numerous with
nine bikes (not counting the Huskies), but the number of
Mahindras has doubled to eight, matching the number of
Kalex-KTMs.
There are six Hondas, four in satellite teams, plus the star
Estrella-Galicia pairing.
Costs of engines, kits and a number of parts are
prescribed, but there is no way of preventing factory
race departments from selling components at a loss and
absorbing the cost.
Marc Marquez is the first premier-
class rookie to win the championship
since Kenny Roberts in 1978. This we
know; also that Roberts was more of
a rookie, since it was his first grand
prix season.
But was there one before Roberts?
The flippant say that Les Graham,
first World Champion in 1949, must by
definition also have been a rookie, but
this is disingenuous.
The series followed on from the
pre-war European championship, and
Graham had been a successful rider
in that series. In between, he was a
bomber pilot, decorated for bravery.
His successor, however, may have a
more legitimate claim. Umberto Masetti,
dashing Italian, took the title in 1950
and 1952, riding a factory Gilera.
A Rookie, in the modern context, is
a rider in his first full season. Younger
brother Alex Marquez, for example, was
one such in Moto3 in 2013, although in
fact he came with 11 starts (out of 17
races) from the previous year.
If he is a rookie, then so too was
Masetti.
He did start two 500cc races the
previous season, on a single-cylinder
Gilera Saturno, while also racing in the
125 and 230 classes. But two out of six
races is a much smaller proportion than
Marquez Jr. Even when you consider
that only the best four results counted
for the title, two of four is still only half.
The next year Masetti was a full-
time rider on the dominant four-cylinder
Gilera. He won his second race, and the
third. Again, only the best four results
counted; a pair of seconds saw him
easily defeat fellow-rookie Geoff Duke’s
single-cylinder Norton.
Masetti, who enjoyed a glamorous
lifestyle and a reputation as a playboy
racer, won the title again in 1952, and
from 1955 to 1958 switched to MV
Agusta. He went to race in Chile, and
stayed there – eventually returning to
Italy in 1972 in reduced circumstances,
to be found pumping gas at a Modena
ser vice station owned by a friend – a
salutary story.
Masetti, first Rookie World Champion,
died in 2006, aged 80.
'Low-cost' rules trampled as Husqvarna returns
Re-branded:
KTM becomes
Husqvarna for 2014 ...
THE FORGOTTEN ROOKIE CHAMP
15
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